Twitter has been talking about Charish Reid’s forthcoming debut novel, The Write Escape. I was happy to receive it as an arc from NetGalley en exchange for an honest review.
Antonia is about to get married, she has a good job in publishing and she is kind of working on her novel. The problem is, her mother doesn’t like her fiance, she doesn’t like her soon to be in laws, and now their are rumors of trouble at her publishing house. In a few short hours, she loses her fiance and her job.
Dr. Aiden Byrnes has had a bad year since his girlfriend left him. He’s afraid she was right that he’s been drifting through his career. If he doesn”t make tenure in a year he’s out. He’s uninspired by his writing, his teaching, and his life in general.
Separately, Antonia and Aiden retreat to vacation cottages in Tully Cross, Ireland to recuperate and find themselves. They end up finding each other.
I loved Antonia and Aiden, separately and together. The best part of the book was Antonia and Aiden sparking off each other intellectually while talking about Zora Neale Hurston and the parallels between African American and Irish cultures (not the Irish slaves myth, they clear that right up). I enjoyed the parts where they sparked off each other physically as well. I enjoyed their bickering and arguing. Both characters come to life as they spend time together.
What doesn’t work as well is the conflict that is the obstacle to their HEA, and it’s resolution. I don’t think Reid was entirely comfortable with the high drama of emotions. I don’t know how to articulate the difference between the authorial confidence in Antonia and Aiden’s bickering, and the lack of confidence in their big fight, I just know I felt it.
Bobbles in voice aside, Charish Reid can write and she has a clear appreciation for the genre. I very much hope Reid is hard at work on a novel for Antonia’s awesome sister, Octavia. I think as she writes more romances, a genre for which she has a clear fondness, her books will keep getting better. The Write Escape was sets the bar high for her next book.